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I'm still waiting for the anova precision oven that was supposed to come out about 2 years ago. It looked so promising (sleek design, steam cooking, searing plate, convection, etc), but I'm pretty sure that it's not going to happen since I haven't seen any mention of it in a long time..

I received a couple of emails from Tovala this week. The first one on Tuesday announced that they will be releasing a version 2 of the steam oven and then a second email today stating that the first production run has already sold out. Price points are $349 by itself or $249 if you sign up to buy 100 of their prepared meals within the first year of ownership. Looks like they added convection baking as a feature and possibly some other stuff too - I didn't look hard enough through the webpage to sort everything out. They also changed the controls a bit - this new version looks much more like a traditional toaster oven now with a series of knobs running vertically down the left side.
I was an early backer of their first version several years ago but chose to drop out and never ended up with one of the Tovala ovens. I've been waiting for the Anova oven to materialize for several years now but no news on that product for quite some time.

I ordered some about 5 weeks ago after reading this thread and wanting to try the stuff. Purchased from a UK seller through Amazon but it never showed (no tracking information). I reached out to them yesterday and they are re-sending the order. I guess I have a couple more weeks to wait.

When I lived in Phoenix, the local Fry's grocery store (Kroger) would put chuck roast on sale a few times a year. I would stock up on a couple dozen chuck-eyes whenever that happened at 2.99-3.99 per lb. After I bought out the location, I'd go to other locations to look for more, but they didn't offer them at all. I asked the butchers about it and found out that it was up to each location as to whether they wanted to offer that cut. Apparently, some would offer it separately as a steak while others wouldn't separate it from the larger cut sold as a chuck roast. My friends and I refer to it as the poor man's ribeye. I do like that the chuck-eyes run smaller than a ribeye so it makes for a good meal without eating too much meat in one sitting. I haven't really seen it out here in northern California since moving here a couple years ago, but I haven't been looking for it that hard either.

I recall reading the ATK article at the library several years ago. If memory serves me right, Kimball said that real vanilla contains dozens of compounds that make up its taste and complexity, but that most of them were volatile compounds so they dissipated when subjected to high heat. Out of the many compounds present in real vanilla extract, there was one called vanillin which was responsible for a vast majority of what we perceive as vanilla taste. I think that he went on say that artificial vanilla is synthesized/extracted from wood pulp (I could be wrong on this though), and it only contained vanillin and not the rest of the trace compounds. This extracted or synthesized vanillin stood up to heat better so it was the better choice when making cookies and cakes. If somebody has access to ATK, I'd welcome any corrections.

At Costco and Total Wine, the selection of alcohol and their prices varies by region - I have observed this between Phoenix, the SF bay area, and Las Vegas. Presumably, each states' taxes play a role in the final pricing, but there must be other market forces that influence the prices as well.
That being said, I have found some exceptional deals at Costco over the years that I can't imagine could be matched by any other retailer.
A couple examples - Bottles of JW Blue Label for ~$130 ea (after a $25 off coupon, limit 2) during the holidays in the Bay Area. Without the coupon, they were $155 which is the same price as the Total Wine in the area. I just checked the price of JWBL for the Phoenix Total Wine and they sell the same bottle for $170.
I've also picked up bottles of 10y/o Laphroaig at Costco for $10 each, but that was because there were only 6 bottles left and I'm guessing that they were closing out the last of the selection to make room for something else on the shelf.
I just price checked a couple items that I recently purchased at Costco against the Total Wine online prices for my local store and they are comparable (without coupons and special closeout deals). 1.75L Sauza Hornitos, and 1.75L Bulleit Rye were both the same price. The Total Wine price on the Bulleit Rye did drop by a couple dollars over the past few months though - I recall buying bottle there in Nov for more than the current price. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find that they are doing price surveys and matching prices with Costco.

@rotuts-
I was also a backer but pulled out right before the campaign closed so I don't have access to the updates either. I did get the business card of someone that was working on the project back in March when I attended a launch event and there is a small chance that I might still have it around. She told me that the project team (when I met her almost a year ago) were all living together in a house that also served as their office. Coincidentally, it's only about 3 miles from where I live. If I can find that card, I'll see if I can get some info for you. If not, then we may have to wait until it sells to the public and settle for the amazon reviews...
On another note, my parents picked up a CSO from Costco for $169 last week. They don't know much about steam ovens, but told me that they were convinced by the demo that they saw. The last time they saw an appliance demo at Costco, they left with a fully loaded vitamix. That was 4-5 years ago and they have yet to take it out of the box!

Not an expert, but I don't think so (at least not likely with the one that I have). My induction unit is a cheapie and there is a digital display and controls. I think if you were to hook up a dimmer switch or speed controller and were to throttle the power, the digital circuitry wouldn't function properly (like trying to use a dimmer switch with a laptop).
As for controlling the heat output, my unit is either on or off and throttles the output by cycling the time that it stays on. That is, if I select the 5 power level setting (out of 10), the unit will switch the induction component on and off every couple seconds to achieve half the power output. Similar to a microwave oven - if you set it to 30% it won't send out 30% of the microwaves the whole time. It will simply toggle on and off and not apply power for 70% of a given time and will apply power 30% of that time. Dimmer switches would likely be fine with an older style electric coil buffet burner but not with the digital circuitry of an induction unit.

I don't see the acquisition as Electrolux trying to enter the US market - they are already have a presence here with several brands that they either own or license (Eureka, Westinghouse, and Frigidaire probably being the most well known). I think they purchased Anova because they produce a quality product with a lot market share and are forward looking with products like the oven that is to be released. Not to mention that they have operated like an actual company since the early days. Their kickstarter for the Bluetooth version a few years ago blew away funding expectations (1.8 mil funded for a 100k goal) and they were still able to release a quality product as promised and on time. So many other crowd-funded products miss delivery dates, run into supply chain problems, or experience significant quality issues during first run production. My experience with customer service at Anova has been top notch, which is more than I can say for a majority of companies that I deal with.
As for Anova being able to operate somewhat autonomously under Electrolux, I certainly think that it's possible. When amazon purchased Zappos, 6pm, woot, and countless other companies, they still let them operate as somewhat separate entities with their own mission and philosophies. It all depends on how the corporate cultures are merged or preserved.

I plan on hosting about a dozen or so people (although more may drop in). I eat very little red meat these days (mostly fish, rice, and veggies), so superbowl is one of my excuses to pig out and eat lots of meaty stuff. Not necessarily a huge football fan, just in it for the food!
This is how my menu is shaping up -
Fried coconut shrimp (picked up a 3 lb case of pre-breaded coconut shrimp from the restaurant supply store for $15). I'll just drop a bunch in my deep fryer before the game (and maybe more at halftime) and serve them with mae ploy sweet chili sauce)
Tri-tip sliders. Choice angus tri-tip is often on sale for $2.99/lb around here and I've got 7 left in my chest freezer (down from 16) that I need to go through. I'll prob sous-vide a three pounder, shave it on my meat slicer, and then serve it in a pile next to some king's Hawaiian rolls.
Chicken wings - trad spicy with Franks, rosemary garlic, and teriyaki. I'll marinate the teriyaki and rosemary garlic the day before. Throw them all on my pellet grill and then keep warm in a chaffing dish.
Build-your-own Sonoran hot dogs - the bacon wrapped hot dogs will go on the pellet grill after the wings come off. The rest of the condiments will be prepped and laid out on the buffet so people can build whatever they want.
I had originally thought about a team-themed food menu but decide against it. Maybe chowder and lobster rolls for NE and fried chicken/bbq/soul food for Atlanta, but once I got it down on paper, everything was too heavy, entrée-like, and tricky to turn into snackable items.

I pulled the trigger on a 10-inch slicer tonight. I used to have a 12" Berkel and have had my eye out for a knockoff 12" for some time now, but they all run $320+. The price on the 10-inch was right. The unit I purchased is this one: http://www.costway.com/10-blade-commercial-meat-slicer-deli-meat-cheese-food-slicer-industrial-quality-2589.html
I received a 20% off coupon code last week ("costway20%off", if you're interested) and it ships free. $217 total. Looking forward to slicing again!

I just received an email from Anova about their early black Friday sale which had a promo code for a Bluetooth unit. With the code, it brings the price down from $129 to $99. Offer valid through Nov 19. I just used it to get a second one (technically a third one, but I gave one of mine away to a friend last year). Promo code is: anova2-5a497cc6 Not sure if the code is re-usable, but worth a try and you don't have to deal with the crowds at Target on black Friday.

Like some of you, I've never used the iphone app to program my Anova - mostly because my phone os is too old and I can't install the app but also because I don't need it. Setting a temp and hitting the start button is not that difficult.
I actually dropped out of being a Tovala Oven backer and the main reason was because the non-app interface was too painful to use when I demo'd it. You really had to use a smartphone (or scan one of their pre-made meals) to make the thing useful (at least that was the case with the prototype that I looked at). Hopefully, the Anova interface will be usable and efficient without an app.